Goldfish and Bananas
by Manigault
Summary: A glimpse into a morning with the Grissoms. Fluff. Introducing Chloe Grissom.


**Goldfish and Bananas**

By: Manigault

Disclaimer: Not mine. They are so much fun to play with though.

**Note: Something new. Something light and fluffly and probably OOC but does it really matter? Really? **

------------------------GSR-----------------------------

"No."

"Try some pancakes, Chloe. They have chocolate chips in them." Grissom berated himself for bribing his two year old, but she was trying his patience and they had been doing this song and dance for close to an hour.

"Gol fissssh." Chloe folded her arms across her tiny chest in a manner that reminded him so much of Sara that he had to fight back the urge to laugh. He couldn't laugh, though, because then she would become even more stubborn.

_Like that's possible_.

Ignoring his own sarcastic voice he cut into the soft pancakes and held the fork up to Chloe's lips as he said firmly, "No goldfish for breakfast honey, you know the rules."

"Banans," Chloe said, unable to formulate the word that she was trying to say.

"We're out of bananas. Mommy is going to bring some home after work. Take a bite of this yummy pancake."

"Noooo." Chloe stuck out her bottom lip and narrowed her dark eyes as the light brown curls danced along her head when she turned away from the forkful of food.

With a loud sigh, Grissom brought the fork back up and took the bite of pancake for himself. "It's so good. I know that you're hungry doodlebug."

"Not hungry." Chloe pushed away from the table and attempted to wiggle her way out of the booster seat. "Want gol fissssh."

Chloe always drew the word out in a manner that almost always made Grissom grin. Almost being the operative word. Now he watched as she marched out of the room only to appear a minute later dragging her step stool that was kept in the downstairs bathroom. He watched her as she pushed the stool up to the counter and stepped up onto it, her legs strong and sturdy for a toddler and a tiny one at that.

Putting the fork down Grissom leaned back in his seat and watched with a mixture of fascination and irritation as his wayward daughter was determined to retrieve the bag of goldfish that was kept in the cabinet above the sink. He wondered how long it would take her to realize she couln't reach the counter top although she stood on her tiptoes on the stool. Fascinated, he wondered what was running through her mind as she screwed her lips into a frown and studied the situation. Would she give up when she realized it was pointless?

In answer to his question Chloe opened the cabinet door beneath the sink and lifted her foot up to leverage herself as she gripped the edge of the open sink. In half a second Grissom was behind her not sure whether to be proud of her thought processes or angry with her for ignoring the fact that he'd refused to let her have gold fish for breakfast-again.

"Noooo! Daddy, no!" Chloe struggled in his arms as he gently plucked her from the counter and held her to his chest.

"Honey, you can't climb onto the counters," Grissom said gently. "You could get hurt."

Turning in his arms so that she could look into his eyes, Chloe smiled suddenly and wrapped her tiny arms around his neck as she planted a kiss on his chin. She loved to touch the dent in his chin.

"Otay, daddy."

He couldn't help it. He could never stay upset with his beautiful baby and now was no exception.

"Gol fisssh?" Chloe asked.

Arching a brow at her innocent request he couldn't help but wonder if she'd just manipulated him. If he gave in, again, then this small battle would continue at lunch time and then dinner time. It had been going on for two weeks now and he was at his wits end. Sara was the only one who could convince her to eat anything other than gold fish or bananas. Sara told him that he caved into her much too easily and that Chloe knew that she couldn't pull that with her. So, day after day he'd been determined to prove her wrong and time after time he'd failed.

"You can have gold fish if you eat a pancake. One pancake." Grissom compromised.

"Gol fisssh then pancake?" Chloe negotiated.

One thing that had never failed to amaze him was how sharp her mind was and how she could analzye something, negotiate what she wanted, converse with him and Sara in a way that was beyond anything that he'd ever imagined a two year old to be capable of. Of course, his experience was extremely limited as the only toddler he'd ever been around was Lindsey and that was fleeting. He'd never made a habit out of hanging out with Catherine's child although he'd always bought her gifts on her birthday or other occasions.

"How's it going?" Sara asked from the doorway, a wide smile plasterd on her face as she took in the situation. Grissom liked to think that Chloe was a spitting image of herself, but although she shared an outward appearance with her child she was Grissom through and through. They had been engaged in this struggle for two weeks now and there was an ongoing bet at work about who would cave in first. Grissom always lost.

"Mommy!" Chloe said happily as she held out her arms towards Sara.

"Your daughter still refuses to eat anything except gold fish." Grissom watched as Sara placed a brown bag on the counter before reaching for Chloe.

"She'll eat bananas, won't you baby?" Sara grinned over the curly head towards Grissom who rolled his eyes and tilted his head slightly before beginning the process of cleaning the kitchen.

"It's not healthy for her to eat the same things all of the time." Grissom grumbled as he ran a bowl beneath the water in the sink.

"She eats other things," Sara protested gently as she eased into a chair at the table and held Chloe on her knees. "Bananas are healthy, Gil. Healthier than pancakes with chocolate chips." Chuckling she took a bite of the abandoned pancake and didn't attempt to offer any to Chloe who was observing her every movement.

"Me! I try." Chloe opened her mouth as Sara fed her a biteful of the pancake while trying her best not to laugh at the indignant look Grissom was sending their way as he dropped a towel on the counter and frowned.

"I'm going to take Bruno for a walk." Grissom muttered beneath his breath as Sara continued feeding their stubborn daughter the food she had refused minutes before when he'd tried to get her to eat.

His dog was smart for staying out of the kitchen when Grissom was attempting to get Chloe to eat a meal. Bruno lifted his head from the rug in front of the sofa as Grissom walked into the room with an impatient stride. He'd take Bruno around the block while Sara fed Chloe, as usual, and then take over again so that Sara could get some sleep after working all night.

By the time he returned to his home he found two things that made him smile; Sara had finished cleaning the kitchen and there was a fresh banana peel in the trash can. With a twinkle in his eyes he took the stairs two at a time until he came to the top landing where he stood listening for the sound of his two favorite voices.

He found the sources of the giggles and whispers coming from his daughters bedroom where he found his ladies sitting on the carpet reading books about funny little puppies while they took turns making the noises.

"So, did Chloe finish her pancakes?" Grissom asked with a teasing lilt to his question.

Finishing the page she was reading to Chloe, Sara glanced up at him and smiled sweetly. "Why yes she did, honey. Right Chloe?"

Easing himself onto the light green carpet next to Sara he felt his left knee bump into her right one as he leaned over and whispered in her ear. "She didn't eat a banana?"

"Hmmm, following the evidence?" Sara ducked her head and grinned back at the book that Chloe was holding up for her to continue reading.

"When I walked out she demanded a b-a-n-a-n-a didn't she?" Grissom quizzed.

"Banannna!" Chloe said happily before adding. "Read."

"Just accept it, Gil." Sara shook her head lightly and continued to read the page as he studied his child with interest. All of the years teaching seminars and CSI's didn't compare to the satisfaction he was getting from this one small person. He realized that he couldn't take the credit for her intelligence, but he was so entranced by her it didn't matter. If she wanted gold fish for breakfast tommorrow she'd have it and if she wanted bananas for lunch today she could have that as well.

Sara caught his eye and winked. "The banana was mine. Chloe has decided that she loves chocolate chip pancakes so if you make them tommorrow I'm sure she'll be thrilled."

"Pancakes, daddy. Lunch?" Chloe asked, scrambling off Sara's lap and throwing herself into his arms.

Sara held up the book she'd been reading and turned to the last page. "The End."


End file.
